Chicken and potato stew with creamed courgette
One pot, with courgette standing in for the cabbage
Scales up easily in the same pot. Add extra stock in proportion so the potato still has enough liquid to simmer in.
This owes more to an Irish stew than it looks like at first. Chicken and potato simmer together in stock until the potato starts to break down and thicken the whole pot from within. Cabbage is the one thing missing, since its ribs are exactly what a narrowed bowel struggles with, but courgette does a similar job once it is peeled, deseeded and cooked down to nothing, adding a soft green note without a trace of skin or fibre. A splash of cream stirred in at the end turns the stock from thin to properly rich, and the whole thing needs only one pan and very little watching. It sits well in the fridge for a day or two, and the flavour, if anything, improves by the second bowl.
Ingredients
Contains: Milk, Celery
- 20 gunsalted butter
- 300 gboneless chicken thighs, about 3 thighs, skin removed, cut into 3 cm pieces
- 400 gpotato, peeled and cut into 3 cm chunks
- 400 mlclear chicken stock, clear and strained, or a good cube
- 2courgettes, about 300 g, peeled, deseeded and cut into small dice
- 100 mldouble cream
- salt
Method
Melt the butter in a large, deep pan or a shallow casserole over a medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning, until lightly coloured all over. It does not need to cook through yet.
Add the potato and stock, bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down low, cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the potato gives easily when you press a piece against the side of the pan.
Stir in the courgette, cover again and cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the potato is starting to break down at the edges, the courgette is completely soft, and the chicken is cooked through with no pink left.
Stir in the cream and warm through for a minute without letting it boil. Taste and season with salt.
To freeze it, hold the cream back and freeze the stew in single portions for up to three months. Stir the cream in as you reheat.
Ladle into bowls and eat while it is hot.
Watch-points
- Peel the courgette and scoop out the seeds before dicing it, then cook it down until it is completely soft. It stands in for the cabbage this stew would traditionally use.
- Peel the potato fully, with no skin left on any piece.
- Use a stock that is clear and strained, with no vegetable pieces in it.
Stoma note: The potato here thickens stoma output. Drink a glass of water alongside the bowl rather than loosening the stew with more stock.
Make it more nourishing
- Use 150 ml of double cream instead of 100.
- Stir a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder into the stock before it goes in.
- Add another 120 g of chicken thigh to the pot for about 25 g more protein across the two bowls.
Swaps
- Instead of courgette, use peeled, deseeded marrow, cut small
- cooks down the same way and has an even softer texture once done
- Instead of chicken thighs, use chicken breast, cut into chunks
- leaner, though it can turn stringy if the pot simmers too hard, so keep the heat gentle